No new information on missing Kiwi nurse despite ISIS leader’s death
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she has no update to give on the plight of missing New Zealand nurse Louisa Akavi despite the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi in Syria.
The New Zealand government and its coalition allies have been searching for Ms Akavi since she was kidnapped by armed gunmen in Syria more than five years ago. A senior government source said they had not given up hope she was still alive, but with a complete absence of any new information or positive sightings in recent months, that hope is now dwindling.
Over the years there have been various sightings of Ms Akavi and reports she was alive, including that she provided medical care in an ‘internally displaced persons camp’ in Iraq in late 2017.
The last ‘concrete’ sighting received by intelligence officials was that she had been seen late last year in different places close to the Syrian Iraq border. There were hopes she would be found either when the IS stronghold of Baghouz was overrun, or picked up among the people trying to flee the area.
The International Committee of the Red Cross broke its silence in
April, calling for information that could help locate Ms Akavi and the two drivers captured alongside her.
In April, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had led a “significant and sustained whole-of-government effort ... involving a wide range of other agencies, and co-operation with international partners”.
That included the deployment of a “small multi-agency team” based in Iraq, which was “specifically focused on locating Ms Akavi and identifying opportunities to recover her”.
The government is making no comment about the current status of that team, which included special forces troops from the New Zealand Defence Force.